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Jean Gabin

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Jean Gabin
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(born May 17, 1904, Paris, France — died Nov. 15, 1976, Paris) French film actor. The son of a music-hall comedian, he began as a performer at the Folies-Bergère (1923). After making his film debut in 1931 he earned critical and popular acclaim in Maria Chapdelaine (1934), Pépé le moko (1937), Grand Illusion (1937), The Human Beast (1938), and Daybreak (1939), often portraying the silent, tough antihero surviving in a world of social outcasts. He appeared in several films as Georges Simenon's detective character, Inspector Maigret, and also in Speaking of Murder (1959), Money, Money, Money (1962), and The Upper Hand (1967).

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French Literature Companion: Jean Gabin
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Gabin, Jean (1904-76). For André Bazin, ‘Œdipe en casquette’, the French cinema's proletarian tragic hero par excellence. Rumour had it that he insisted on dying violently at the end of each film, as in Renoir's La Bête humaine (1938) and Carné's Quai des brumes (1938) and Le Jour se lève (1939), the last perhaps French cinema's greatest tragic acting performance. His pre-war career at its peak—from Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936)—is intimately associated with the triumph and downfall of the Popular Front. Only Humphrey Bogart has given the cinema such a troubled incarnation of a masculinity at once violent and tender.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: Jean Gabin
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Gabin, Jean (zhäN gäbăN'), 1904-76, French film actor, b. Paris; his original name was Alexis Moncourge. Gabin's work as a cabaret entertainer led to a career in films. He was one of France's most popular actors. In his early roles, he often played the tough yet sympathetic anti-hero. His later films were frequently detective stories. His films include Pépé Le Moko (1936), La grande illusion (1937), Quai des brumes (1938), Le plaisir (1951), Un singe en hiver (1962), and Fin de journée (1969).
Actor: Jean Gabin
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  • Born: May 17, 1904 in Paris, France
  • Died: Nov 15, 1976 in Paris, France
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '30s, '50s-'60s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Comedy Drama
  • Career Highlights: Grand Illusion, Le Jour Se Lève, Pépé le Moko
  • First Major Screen Credit: Chacun Sa Chance (1930)

Biography

The most popular French actor of the prewar era, Jean Gabin was the essence of world-weary stoicism; a classic antihero, his characters ran the gamut of society's victims and losers, outsiders damaged by life and with no hope of survival. Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé on May 17, 1904, in Mériel, France, he was the son of professional cabaret performers, and raised by relatives in the country. After World War I, Gabin apprenticed at a Parisian construction company before deciding to follow in his parents' footsteps, struggling as a performer for several years before finally entering the military. Upon his discharge he appeared in a series of musical revues, followed in 1926 by a pair of operettas, La Dame en Decolette and Trois Jeunes Filles Nues. He also toured South America, and upon returning to France signed on with the Moulin Rouge. Gabin's career began picking up steam through his varied theatrical and music hall performances, and after rejecting a contract offer from a German film company he signed with Pathé-Natan, making his screen debut in 1930's Chacun sa Chance.

Mephisto followed in 1931, and by Paris-Beguin later that same year, Gabin was already earning second billing. He worked with an impressive group of directors, including Jacques Tourneur (on Tout ca ne Vaut pas L'Amour) and Anatole Litvak (Coeur de Lilas), and quickly developed the image which became his trademark: his face a mask of boredom and cynicism, a cigarette dangling insolently from his lips. With Brigitte Helm, Gabin starred in both L'Etoile de Valencia and Adieu les Beaux Jours, and for director G.W. Pabst he appeared in De Haut en Bas. A co-starring role in the 1934 Josephine Baker vehicle Zou Zou led to Maria Chapdelaine, his first major hit. Directed by Julien Duvivier, it won the Grand Prix du Cinema, and also set a major precedent followed by virtually all of Gabin's prewar films: His character died, and Duvivier was so impressed by the actor's skillful performance of his death scene that similar projects were immediately discussed. In fact, it was rumored that before long, Gabin's contract stated that all of his characters were to be ill-fated.

After the hit Varietes, Gabin starred as a French Foreign Legionnaire in Duvivier's 1936 war drama La Bandera, a role which launched him as a romantic hero. That same year he and Duvivier collaborated on La Belle Equipe; upon its completion, Gabin entered into another highly fortuitous partnership with filmmaker Jean Renoir, for whom he first made Les Bas-Fonds. Still, it was another Duvivier film, 1937's Pepe Le Moko, which shot Gabin to international stardom; its follow-up, Renoir's brilliant antiwar meditation La Grande Illusion, solidified his new fame. A certified classic of world cinema, the picture ran for an unprecedented six months in New York City, where the critics dubbed it the best foreign film of the year. In France, it was the box-office champ of 1937, and its success established Gabin as his homeland's biggest star. His fame was reinforced by a series of hits, including the 1938 Marcel Carné drama Le Quai des Brumes, Renoir's La Bete Humaine, and 1939's Le Recif de Corail.

Gabin turned down any number of Hollywood offers to remain in France, where he was offered projects like Carné's grim, superb Le Jour Se Lève (aka Daybreak). He then began work on Jean Grémillon's Remorques, but wartime duty prevented the film from completion until 1941. In the meantime, Gabin finally signed a Hollywood contract with Fox; no appropriate projects were immediately forthcoming, however, and when Moontide finally appeared in 1942, few were pleased with the results. At Universal, he and Duvivier were reunited for 1944's The Impostor. At RKO, Gabin was next scheduled to film The Temptress, but at the 11th hour he demanded Marlene Dietrich be hired as his co-star. The incensed studio paid his salary, canceled the project, and issued the warning that he would never work in Hollywood again; Gabin shrugged off the threat and proceeded to rejoin the French troops in North Africa, later winning a Croix de Guerre for his wartime efforts. He intended to make his comeback in Carné's Les Portes de la Nuit, but after a series of delays -- most the fault of Gabin himself, who made demand after demand -- he was fired from this project as well.

Gabin and Dietrich, whom he was dating offscreen, instead made 1946's Martin Roumagnac; it was not successful, nor was the follow-up, 1947's Miroir. In 1949, he returned to the stage in the flop La Soif, then filmed Au-Dela Des Grilles for Rene Clement; the picture was a foreign smash, winning an Academy Award and directorial honors at the Cannes Film Festival, but in France it bombed. Gabin and Carné were then encouraged to set aside their differences in order to rekindle both of their careers; while 1951's La Marie Du Port was produced without incident, it made few waves upon its release. Clearly, Gabin was in trouble. In an attempt to rehabilitate his image, he next appeared in a fantasy, E piu Facile che un Camello, followed by a comedy, Victor. Neither worked, and despite winning acting honors at the Venice Film Festival for his work in the subsequent La Nuit est mon Royaume, his box-office stature continued to wane.

Film after film failed before Gabin agreed to appear in Leur Derniere Nuit, a role which successfully combined his older, distanced image of his peak period with the warmer, more bourgeois persona he attempted to project in his later years. While the picture itself was not a hit, Gabin had not delivered a more engaging performance in years. His work in the follow-up, 1954's Touchez pas au Grisbi, took the same path, and this time he scored an international smash. Well-received reunions with Carné (L'Air de Paris), Renoir (French Can-Can), and Duvivier (Voici le Temps des Assassins) appeared over the next few years, and suddenly Gabin was again a global star. However, over the decades to come he refused to work with filmmakers greater in stature than himself; as a result, few of his subsequent pictures were released internationally, and outside of France he faded from view. Still, Gabin remained a prolific screen presence in his homeland, and in 1963 he and fellow French actor Fernandel created their own production company, Gafer Films. The 1976 L'Annee Sainte was Gabin's last film; he died in Paris on November 15, 1976. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: Jean Gabin
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Jean Gabin
Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé
17 May 1904
Paris, France
Died 15 November 1976 (aged 72)
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Years active 1928–1976
Spouse(s) Gaby Basset (1925–1930)
Suzanne Marguerite Jeanne Mauchain (1933–1939)
Dominique Fournier (1949–1976)

Jean Gabin (17 May 1904 – 15 November 1976) was a major French actor and war hero.

Contents

Biography

Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi (35 km) north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he worked as a laborer, but at age 19 entered show business with a bit part in a Folies Bergères production. He continued performing in a variety of minor roles before going into the military.

After completing his military service, Gabin returned to the entertainment business, working under the stage name of Jean Gabin at whatever was offered in the Parisian music halls and operettas imitating the singing style of Maurice Chevalier which was the rage at the time. He was part of a troupe that toured South America and upon returning to France found work at the Moulin Rouge. His performances started getting noticed and better stage roles came along that led to parts in two silent films in 1928.

Two years later, he easily made the transition to talkies in a 1930 Pathé Frères production titled Chacun sa Chance. Playing secondary roles, Gabin made more than a dozen films over the next four years, including films directed by Maurice and Jacques Tourneur. However, he only gained real recognition for his performance in Maria Chapdelaine, a 1934 production directed by Julien Duvivier. Cast as a romantic hero in a 1936 war drama titled La Bandera, this second Duvivier-directed film established Gabin as a major star. The following year, he teamed up with Duvivier again, this time in the highly successful Pépé le Moko that became one of the top Grossing Films of 1937 worldwide; its popularity brought Gabin international recognition. That same year, he starred in the Jean Renoir masterpiece La Grande Illusion, an anti-war film that was a huge box office success and given universal critical acclaim, even running at a New York City theatre for an unprecedented six months. This was followed by another one of Renoir's great successes: La Bête Humaine (The Human Beast), a film noir tragedy based on the novel by Émile Zola and starring Gabin and Simone Simon, as well as Le Quai Des Brumes (Port of Shadows), one of director Marcel Carné's most acclaimed films.

Flooded with offers from Hollywood, for a time Gabin turned them all down until the outbreak of World War II. Following the German occupation of France, he joined Jean Renoir and Julien Duvivier in the United States. Divorced from his second wife in 1939, during his time in Hollywood, Gabin began a torrid romance with actress Marlene Dietrich. However, his films in America proved less than successful.

A difficult personality, he did serious damage to his Hollywood career while working for RKO Pictures. Scheduled to star in an RKO film, at the last minute he demanded Dietrich be given the co-starring role. The studio refused. After Gabin remained steadfast in his demand, he was fired, and the film project was shelved.

Undaunted, Jean Gabin joined General Charles de Gaulle's Free French Forces and earned the Médaille Militaire and a Croix de Guerre for his wartime valor fighting with the Allies in North Africa. Following D-Day, Gabin was part of the military contingent that entered a liberated Paris.

In 1946, Gabin was hired by Marcel Carné to star in the film, Les Portes de la Nuit, but his conduct got him fired again. He then found a French producer and director willing to cast him and Marlene Dietrich together, but their film Martin Roumagnac was not a success and their personal relationship soon ended. Following another box office failure in 1947, Gabin returned to the stage, but there too, the production was another financial disaster. Nevertheless, he was cast in the lead role of the 1949 René Clément film Au-Delà Des Grilles that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Despite this recognition, the film did not do well at the French box office, and the next five years brought little more than repeated box office failures.

Gabin's career seemed headed for oblivion. However, he made a comeback in the 1954 film, Touchez pas au grisbi. Directed by Jacques Becker, his performance earned him critical acclaim, and the film was a very profitable international success. Later, worked once again with Jean Renoir in French Cancan, with Maria Felix and Françoise Arnoul. Over the next twenty years, Gabin made close to 50 more films, most of them very successful commercially and critically, including many for Gafer Films, his production partnership with fellow actor Fernandel.

His co-stars included leading figures of post-war cinema such as Brigitte Bardot (En cas de malheur), Alain Delon (Le Clan des Siciliens and Deux hommes dans la ville) and Jean-Paul Belmondo (Un singe en hiver).

Gabin died of a leukaemia at the American Hospital of Paris, in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. His body was cremated and with full military honours, his ashes were dispersed into the sea from a military ship.

Considered one of the great stars of French cinema, he was made a member of the Legion of Honor. The Musée Jean Gabin in his native town, Mériel, contains his story and features his war and film memorabilia.

Selected filmography

References

Bibliography

  • World's Coolest Movie Star: The Complete 95 Films (and Legend) of Jean Gabin, by Charles Zigman (Allenwood Press 2008). Features introductions by Gabin's co-stars Michele Morgan and Brigitte Bardot, and an 'appreciation' by David Mamet.

External links

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